SOLUTIONS
Ship Automation
CRS not only has an in-depth knowledge of vessel automation system design, but we also have many years’ experience in the operational aspects of these very same systems. Having operated in Oil & Gas, Naval, and Commercial environments, we are able to bring that experience into the design domain to further enhance our system designs. We use this expertise to expand our clients’ decision-making capabilities, often from a fixed set of data. This can come in several forms, primarily this is visual, by structuring HMI design layouts in such a way that comparative analysis can be achieved very quickly from equivalent machinery. Secondly, we are able to take stranded information contained in existing databases and extract additional actionable information to provide system users with the ability to make rapid responses to unexpected system changes.
During our design process, we pay particular attention to Alarm Management, often using DEF-STANS, EEMUA and ISO as guides. Our ethos is that during normal operations, during all start/stop operations, no alarms should be annunciated in the system. If there are, then there are system issues that should be resolved during any design/upgrade phase. We monitor this by applying easily accessible KPI monitoring and displays.
At CRS, we understand not only how the physical environment plays its part in any successful solution but also the all-important human factor considerations of operators and their systems.
PROPULSION OVERVIEW 1
ELECTRICAL OVERVIEW
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VENTILATION
Propulsion & Power Upgrades - De-Risking
De-risking is a major part of our project planning processes. Due to the nature of the systems we often upgrade, we have identified key areas of risk mitigation which allow us to develop plant-accurate factory acceptance testing as well as minimise the time onsite to carry out installation, harbour testing, and sea trials.
CRS has developed its own internal simulator system, which allows us to combine a mix of ‘real I/O’ and ‘Simulated I/O’ to reflect the I/O distribution throughout a ship. Depending on testing requirements, often panel actions are replicated using physical I/O, and plant systems are replicated via simulated I/O. Regardless of route, the software we produce is able to be tested as if the full suite of vessel I/O is connected.
CRS is able to configure our simulator on a ship-by-ship basis at the design stage. Once configured, we are able to develop simple feedback logic (running/stopped, open/close) so the new software, including any input operations, interactions, or sequencing, can be fully tested and verified as if the logical plant is connected. This simulator will remain active as long as CRS works with our clients and can be quickly loaded at any time to make modifications or upgrades as the vessel develops. This allows us to provide quality lifetime support to our clients throughout all future potential modifications.
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Bespoke Engineering
Due to the expertise held at CRS, we are able to provide bespoke hardware and software solutions. Generally, this comes in conjunction with our de-risking processes.
CRS has developed bespoke simulation application solutions for clients such as Rolls-Royce and Raytheon for their Type 23 Frigate Procedural Trainer system and several other trainers managed by the Raytheon group.
We have developed standard IEC61131 applications for modern upgrades, but also have the capability to support CORAL66 and SL-GMS applications.
During our upgrade planning, we also develop bespoke hardware solutions which allow for the least invasive upgrades possible. We achieve this by minimizing any changes to the existing footprint whilst introducing new technology and additional redundancy to the system. All bespoke hardware solutions used in our system upgrades is DNV/Lloyds/ABS approved.
This example is for the replacement of system PCs. The footprint, cable connections, and functions of the updated system are identical to the previous system, although due to our unique design, we are able to introduce a further level of redundancy throughout the system without ship cabling modifications.
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Remote Support & Service
Working with our strategic partners allows CRS to expand our control system offerings to our clients to allow them to maximise the data extracted from their systems as well as providing enough data to build a ‘Digital Twin’ of the running systems.
This will allow the relocation or identification of expertise anywhere in the world. These systems also allow clients to leverage the knowledge gained from any part of the system and utilise that at any other part of the system to gain improved performance or running hours.
We often find clients are not fully aware of the possibilities available from the information provided by their systems. CRS can help not only build this understanding but also put in place plans to build on the existing platform to develop a richer dataset to improve the performance of the decision making process.
As vessels are moving to minimum manning or even autonomy such strategies are becoming more and more important.
Service Contracts
CRS holds several long-term service contracts. We support these contracts with scheduled visits as well as ad-hoc support where required.
We also have secure links to some of our clients’ vessels, allowing us to remotely log in, upon request, to provide diagnostic support or remote modifications and updates.
We provide long-term support for simulator systems (Raytheon), Fisheries Vessels (Scottish Government), Naval vessels (Hellenic Navy), as well as Superyacht clients.
CRS prides itself on being extremely responsive to our operational clients as we understand the criticality of their needs during operations at sea. Often, we respond within the hour where issues are critical and quickly allocate to our dedicated group of service engineers for immediate action where possible.
Ergonomics & Human Factors
CRS have many years of experience utilising human factor engineering to guide our designs. These come in the form of HMI design, Alarm and Operational Management, as well as built facility engineering. Using DEF-STANs, EEMUA201, 191, IEC61131, and ISO11064 as our guiding principles, we are able to use a mix of design, operational experience, and best practices to offer our clients the best fit for any given solution.
We are able to match those requirements to the supply and selection of the most ergonomic furniture requirements for the many challenging projects we support.